Hospitals In Our Network

Adult services:

The adult sickle cell and thalassaemia service at RWHT is led by Dr Neelakshi Desilva, Consultant haematologist and clinical lead for red cell disorders.  She works alongside Clinical nurse specialist Liz Willis.  The team looks after around 70 patients living with haemoglobinopathy disorders within Wolverhampton and surrounding area.    

The trust offers haemoglobinopathy routine and day case care on the Durnell Unit five days per week. Blood tests and crossmatches are done within the department. Acute and out of hours care is through either AMU or the Emergency Department (with 24-hour access to an on-call haematologist for out of hours advice and prompt specialist reviews during the working day 7 days a week) and all admissions are onto their designated Haematology ward.  In conjunction with this they also manage a joint haematology-obstetrics clinic, joint endocrine clinic and antenatal counselling service.   

Dedicated consultant led clinics occur weekly.  Joint consultant clinics with Dr Shivan Pancham and Dr Christine Wright from Birmingham City hospital also happen twice a year.    

Paediatric services:  

The paediatric haemoglobinopathy service at RWHT is led by Dr Julie Brent consultant haematologist.  She works alongside paediatric consultant haematologist Dr Marita Macken.  Their team will soon be expanding to include a dedicated haemoglobinopathy clinical nurse specialist.  

Around 65 patients living with red cell disorders within Wolverhampton and surrounding areas access the services provided by RWHT with support from community Counsellor Pam Lakhpuri.   

The hospital offers haemoglobinopathy acute care via the Emergency Department and all admissions are onto **example: general paediatric wards. Routine and day case care, including cross-matching and regular transfusions, are managed on its ** unit, which is open Monday-Friday **times.  Transcranial doppler scans undertaken by their vascular scientist Stephanie Warr also occur every **frequency. 

Dedicated consultant lead clinics are held routinely. Joint consultant clinics with Dr Mark Velangi and a clinical nurse specialist from Birmingham Children’s hospital also happen twice a year. 

 

Queens Hospital Burton is part of the University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust.

Adult Red Cell Service @UHNM

 

The adult Red Cell Service at the University Hospital of North Midlands (UHNM) is based on ward 202 in the Cancer Centre at Royal Stoke University hospital (entrance 1).  The lead haematology consultant is Dr Jane Graham, who works closely with our red cell nurse specialist Angela Salmon, to support patients with sickle cell disease, thalassaemia and other rarer red cell conditions.  In addition our transition nurse Katie Walker, supports younger patients as they move from paediatrics to the adult services.

 

If you are acutely unwell, our sickle cell patients can contact the haematology & oncology emergency assessment unit (EAU) directly, which is based in the Cancer Centre at Royal Stoke hospital and is open 24/7.  Your call will be answered by a senior member of the nursing team and you will be invited to attend the EAU for medical review.  Depending on your symptoms and/or bed availability on EAU, you may be asked to attend the emergency department initially.  All sickle patients have clinical alerts attached to their electronic medical records guiding clinical teams in their acute management.  We actively strive to ensure patients with Sickle Cell Disease have their pain assessed and are offered appropriate pain relief medication within 30 minutes of arriving at the hospital in accordance with national guidelines. 

 

Sickle patients requiring admission to hospital will be cared for by the inpatient haematology team on ward 201, our 22-bedded haematology unit in the Cancer Centre at Royal Stoke hospital.  Sometimes it may be more appropriate for you to be looked after on a different ward in the hospital.  The attending consultant and/or haematology ward registrar will review you on a daily basis irrespective of your location, and will link closely with the local and regional Red Cell teams as necessary.  Patients admitted to County hospital or Leighton hospital via their local emergency department may be transferred to Royal Stoke hospital. 

 

Monitoring for any long-term complications of sickle disease and/or treatment is offered through face to face and/or telephone clinic reviews.  The Red Cell team have worked closely with ophthalmology to offer drop in appointments at the Eye Department, Main building, Royal Stoke hospital; to screen for sickle retinopathy and potential complications of iron chelation medication.  Bone density scans are offered at the Haywood hospital, Burslem.  A dedicated joint haematology-obstetric clinic is held monthly at Royal Stoke hospital.  Please note patients are required to travel to Birmingham for their FeriScan® MRI appointments. 

 

Regular multi-disciplinary meetings (MDTs) are held with the Birmingham haemoglobinopathy coordinating centre (HCC).  If, however, you are in the area on a temporary basis e.g. studying at Keele University, then the oversight of your care can remain with your own centre.  We will work closely with them to support the monitoring of blood tests where needed, and help look after you if you have any acute problems. 

 

Community blood tests are undertaken at multiple sites across the region and can easily be booked online at https://patientconnect.uhnm.nhs.uk/.  Blood transfusion is offered on the day unit at Royal Stoke hospital, County hospital chemotherapy unit or the Sycamore ward at Bradwell hospital , Newcastle-under-Lyme.  Port bloods can be undertaken on the day unit at Royal Stoke, at County hospital, or in dedicated Supportive Therapy Clinics located in Fenton, Middleport, Shelton, Bradwell and Cheadle. 

 

The haematology team at UHNM serves a patient population of just under 1 million including many residents of the largely rural areas of Staffordshire, Shropshire and South Cheshire.  UHNM is the lead provider and host organisation for the North Midlands and Cheshire Pathology Services network.  We currently have a team of 15 consultant haematologists, 9 senior middle grade haematologists and more than 10 clinical nurse specialists delivering haematology across 3 hospital sites; indulging Royal Stoke University hospital, County hospital Stafford & Leighton hospital (latter part of Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust). 

 

 

 Paediatric Red Cell Service @UHNM

 

The paediatric Red Cell Service at the University Hospital of North Midlands (UHNM) is based on ward 217B oncology day unit at Royal Stoke University hospital.  The lead paediatric consultant is Dr Aswath Kumar, who works closely with paediatric haematology team form Birmingham children’s hospital. The haemoglobinopathy specialist nursing team from Birmingham Children’s Hospital will work closely with the UHNM team to support patients with sickle cell disease, thalassemia and other rarer red cell conditions.  Our transition nurse, Katie Walker, supports younger patients as they move from paediatrics to the adult services.

 

The paediatric outpatient services are based at Children's Outpatient Department, Royal Stoke hospital.  Dr Aswath Kumar runs a dedicated haemoglobinopathy clinic every month.  Every 6 months, a tertiary haemoglobinopathy clinic is delivered by Birmingham Children's Hospital; involving Consultant Paediatric Haematologist, Dr Lancashire, and the haemoglobinopathy outreach nursing team.  Annual reviews are undertaken during these 6 monthly clinics.

 

Blood transfusion is delivered as a day case on ward 217B Royal Stoke University hospital every week on a Thursday. Community blood sampling and cross match facilities are available to go out to schools, if parents wish to access this.

 

All children with sickle cell disease have open access to the children's assessment unit (CAU) which is our emergency portal for all sick children.  If your child is unwell at any time of the day or night, please contact the CAU for advice and if necessary, clinical review. Children that need admitting to hospital are cared for in ward 216 at Royal Stoke University hospital. 

The Special Haematology Laboratory @UHNM

 

The Special Haematology Laboratory at UHNM provides testing for sickle cell, thalassemia and other inherited haemoglobin variants across the North Midlands and Cheshire Pathology Service (this covers UHNM, County Hospital, Leighton Hospital and Macclesfield Hospital). The team includes seven Specialist Biomedical Scientists and four specially trained Associate Practitioner support staff who rotate through and run the section through routine hours. Urgent screening tests for sickle cell are also provided out of hours and across all Pathology sites by Haematology staff to ensure screening for sickle cell can be carried out at any time with no delays.

 

The section offers both diagnostic services for patients as well as monitoring of the percentages of sickle and other haemoglobins for treatment and disease management purposes. This is done using a number of different analysers and techniques to ensure the accuracy of results. Such techniques include a quick screening test which can identify the presence of sickle haemoglobin in a blood sample within 6 minutes, to more detailed analyses where different types of haemoglobin in the sample are separated and interpreted carefully by staff. This can help to identify, along with the full blood count results, thalassaemias and other haemoglobin variants.

 

The section also processes samples taken as part of the antenatal screening programme where screening for sickle cell and thalassemia is offered at booking (around 10 weeks). Any pregnant woman can be tested for these conditions and, where necessary, their partners can also be screened to identify any baby that may inherit sickle cell disease or thalassaemia. Support and further testing can then be offered via the local midwifery team or the regional screening practitioners (depending on the patient’s location). 

 

Adult services :

Adult services: 

The adult sickle cell and thalassaemia service at UHCW is led by Dr Sarah Nicolle, Consultant haematologist and clinical lead for red cell disorders.  She works alongside consultant haematologist Dr Timothy Moorby, Clinical nurse specialist Melvis Nkamani and Apheresis specialist nurse Amanda Pearson.  The team looks after around 150 patients living with haemoglobinopathy disorders within Coventry and Warwickshire.    

The trust offers haemoglobinopathy routine and day case care, via their day units on Ward 34 (3rd floor West wing) at University Hospital, Coventry and the Maple Unit at The Hospital of St Cross, Rugby five days per week 9.30am- 4pm.  They also run a four weekly transfusion morning on a Saturday. Blood tests and crossmatches are done within the department but also easily accessible at many community sites, managed by CWPS (Coventry and Warwickshire Pathology Services) Acute and out of hours care is through the Emergency Department (with 24-hour access to an on-call haematologist for out of hours advice and prompt specialist reviews during the working day 7 days a week) and all admissions are onto their designated Haematology ward.  In conjunction with this they also manage a joint haematology-obstetrics clinic, joint endocrine clinic and antenatal counselling service.   

Dedicated consultant led clinics occur weekly on Wednesday mornings and Specialist nurse clinics on Wednesday afternoons.  There are joint  consultant clinics with Dr Shivan Pancham and Dr Christine Wright from Birmingham City hospital 2-3 times per year  

Paediatric services: 

The UHCW haemoglobinopathy paediatric team consists of Dr Nigel Coad consultant haematologist and clinical lead for red cell services, consultant haematologist Dr Muhammad Farooqi and a team of specialist haematology nurses. They currently look after around 90 patients living with red cell disorders within the Coventry and Warwickshire area.   

The hospital offers haemoglobinopathy acute care via their Emergency Department and all admissions are onto general paediatric wards. Routine and day case care, including cross-matching and regular transfusions, are managed on its Children’s unit - ward 16, which is open Monday-Friday 07:30-18:00.  Transcranial doppler scans also take place on site one a month. 

Dedicated consultant lead clinics occur on the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of each month. Joint consultant clinics with Dr Sarah Lawson and a clinical nurse specialist from Birmingham Children’s hospital also happen twice a year. Nurse led carrier clinics run weekly on a Monday afternoon.   

Paediatric services :

We are the largest children’s haemoglobinopathy unit outside of London and are responsible for caring for around 650 children living with red cell conditions. 

We have a shared care arrangement with other centres in the region such as Coventry, Sandwell and Wolverhampton so that children and young people from those areas don't need to travel to visit us for every appointment. We also offer outreach clinics to other regional hospitals and a transition pathway to City Hospital in Birmingham so that our children and young people are able to move to adult services as smoothly and easily as possible.  

Children with sickle cell disease are at an increased risk of stroke and we run a service here that allows us to screen children and young people to look for indications that they may be at a higher risk.  Children living with thalassaemia and some rare anaemias often need blood transfusions which we offer on our day unit.  

We also perform and increased number of stem cell transplants for children with sickle cell or thalassa e mia. Stem cell transplants can help some young patients begin to start producing normal haemoglobin, improve the immune system and restore red blood cells.  

We are the lead partners for the West Midlands Paediatric Haemoglobinopathy Network for sickle cell and for the Midlands for Thalassaemia and rare anaemias .